Costas Posted July 19, 2019 Posted July 19, 2019 (edited) I know that some use Brasso to remove printing off Lego pieces however I have not come across anyone that has tried utilising plastic polishing compound on Lego to remove fine scratches and ultimately restoring the gloss on dulled pieces. I purchased an old 8069 off eBay the other day and a few pieces had some wear & tear which resulted in a couple of tiles and liftarms looking dull due to fine scratches on their surface. I decided to try some plastic polish that is designed for plastic automotive headlamp lenses to see if this work in polishing up the pieces. After trying it out on a few pieces I was quite impressed with the results - The dull pieces looked almost new after some work polishing them up...! Here is the polish I used however anything similar would work just as well I think. Trying to photograph a before and after example was tricky due to my lighting constraints - here is an old black liftarm which had some scuff marks that were not removable by simply washing the item. Note the scuff marks circled: After a couple of minutes polishing - good as new...! Edited July 19, 2019 by Costas Quote
M_longer Posted July 19, 2019 Posted July 19, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Costas said: After a couple of minutes polishing - good as new...! OK... and what with Transparent pieces? Edited July 19, 2019 by M_longer Quote
Costas Posted July 19, 2019 Author Posted July 19, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, M_longer said: OK... and what with Transparent pieces? Yes - works well with those as well - So good for scratched windscreens etc. I have used this polish on acrylic previously and it can come up like glass if the item is prepped well. Very fine scratches can be removed by the polish but anything deeper would require wet sanding with various grades of wet & dry paper in stages up to 2000 grit. Applying polish would then clean up the remaining fine scratches left by the wet sanding. Edited July 19, 2019 by Costas Quote
dr_spock Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 Cool. Same techniques for polishing plastic automotive headlights works on LEGO. Quote
nerdsforprez Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, Costas said: Trying to photograph a before and after example was tricky due to my lighting constraints - here is an old black liftarm which had some scuff marks that were not removable by simply washing the item. Note the scuff marks circled: After a couple of minutes polishing - good as new...! Its a nice idea, but im not sold. Admittedly it would be nice to see the first pic without the red circles. They kinda obscure what we are supposed to be looking at. Also, in the second pic, although an improvement over the first pic, certainly not new. There seems to be the characteristic microabrasions of any old piece. Doesn't have the luster, mirror-like smoothness of new pieces. In fact, after looking longer, it actually seems to cause some of those microabrasions. Look at the dimple by the second circle to the left (especially to the left of the dimple).... see how mirror-like the surface is? It is flawless (aside from the scuffs you mention). Aside from the scuffs, the sheen of the overall piece is quite distinct from the second picture. I think the overall dullness of the surface in the second pic is worse than the first. Not sure would use the stuff at all. Edited July 20, 2019 by nerdsforprez Quote
sirslayer Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 using grease from the wipe of the side of your nose can cause a shiny reflective on your lego elements.. don't believe me.. try it!! Quote
nerdsforprez Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, sirslayer said: using grease from the wipe of the side of your nose can cause a shiny reflective on your lego elements.. don't believe me.. try it!! No, not when there are these micro abrasions. It may be shiney, but the microabrasions will still show :) Edited July 20, 2019 by nerdsforprez Quote
sirslayer Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 very observant @nerdsforprez.. still a good idea for new elements you want to shine up!!! Quote
Costas Posted July 20, 2019 Author Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, nerdsforprez said: Its a nice idea, but im not sold. Admittedly it would be nice to see the first pic without the red circles. They kinda obscure what we are supposed to be looking at. Also, in the second pic, although an improvement over the first pic, certainly not new. There seems to be the characteristic microabrasions of any old piece. Doesn't have the luster, mirror-like smoothness of new pieces. Biggest problem in trying to get the exact same picture for both shots was trying to hold my phone in one hand while holding the liftarm at the exact same angle to capture the reflection of the light at the exact same angle. Moving the liftarm or camera just a mm would result in a different looking pic as far as the gloss is concerned. I agree the pic is not perfect but I was just trying to show that the original scuff marks had been removed and not so much showing off the gloss. The 'gloss' factor you just need to try yourself as it was too difficult to capture with my phone.... It could also be the black colour in the photo as black is difficult to photograph - I also did some yellow tiles which in person look better than new once polished up - I definitely cannot see any micro abrasions. Apply polish with a soft cloth and rub in - then use a microfibre cloth to finally buff the piece. I use the same stuff to polish my acrylic tubing which I use in my PC water cooling hardware - The acrylic comes up looking like glass. Edited July 20, 2019 by Costas Quote
nerdsforprez Posted July 20, 2019 Posted July 20, 2019 Yea- I suspected as much. It would be difficult to take the exact same pic. with same lighting twice. A lot of variability. Anyways, not that the non-glossed look is really a bad thing. Now that I think of it, the second pic you added almost looks like a matte color. Which I actually love on like muscle cars. If indeed this is accurate (lighting concerns aside) that would actually be really cool if applied to like a black muscle car MOC. Quote
BrickWild Posted July 21, 2019 Posted July 21, 2019 I could also try this on traffic light lenses. Quote
AFOLegofan66 Posted July 23, 2019 Posted July 23, 2019 i've got some of this stuff and I'll give it a try!! got lots of scratched pieces!! Quote
BrickWild Posted July 23, 2019 Posted July 23, 2019 On 7/19/2019 at 11:13 PM, Costas said: Yes - works well with those as well - So good for scratched windscreens etc. I have used this polish on acrylic previously and it can come up like glass if the item is prepped well. Very fine scratches can be removed by the polish but anything deeper would require wet sanding with various grades of wet & dry paper in stages up to 2000 grit. Applying polish would then clean up the remaining fine scratches left by the wet sanding. What type of cloth did you use? Quote
Costas Posted July 23, 2019 Author Posted July 23, 2019 3 hours ago, BrickWild said: What type of cloth did you use? Old soft T-Shirt to apply the polishing compound but any soft cloth will do. Rub it in and polish away. Before the polish dries, I then use a cheap microfibre cloth to perform the final polish and to bring out the shine etc. Repeat process depending on how deep the original marks/scratches are. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.